Courtney, You know, I just had to pass on the USO story to you after I read it in Sunday's paper because positive media coverage on any military issue is so rare anymore! We have turtles everywhere this year, much more so than in past years. Even in a year where I rarely see a turtle, there is always one or two plodding around the yard and garden, eating whatever strikes their fancy. This year, there's more than one or two! They are even digging up bermuda grass and laying their eggs right in the yard. Hmmm? An animal that digs up bermuda grass? I need more of those! Cutworms are sneaky. I can have 50 bush bean plants and they'll take out only 1 or 2 here or there, some years. Other years, they go right down the row and saw them all down. Some of them eat everything they cut. Some don't. Sometimes what I think is cutworm damage is actually plants being gnawed in two and then devoured by pillbugs/sowbugs (Slug-go snail and slug killer takes care of those bugs). Sometimes birds will nip young plants in half and it resembles cutworms. So, a lot of times, if you can't see the pest while it is active, it is hard (impossible!) to be sure what the pest is. Congratulations on the harvest! I love fresh chives. For a few years I had huge rows of chives as a edging on both sides of a raised bed that was 4' wide by 30' long. Last year, they mostly died when I gave up and quit watering the garden in June. However, a few came back and I transplanted them into my cottage border. Your Veggie Garden 'lessons learned' are priceless. I am here to tell you that learning these things 'the hard way' is the most fun! I agree that some weeds are good in the garden. By being smart and observing what bugs like what weeds, you will learn which weeds to allow as a 'trap crop' for pests. The main reason I interplant herbs and flowers in my veggie garden is because they attract beneficial insects OR trap harmful insects making them easy to catch/kill, OR improve the flower of a veggie (like borage and basil improve tomato flavor). It doesn't hurt that they are pretty or that they smell good too! This is also the reason I plant a mixed cottage border around my veggie bed. For what it is worth, I ALWAYS plant too many pumpkins and winter squash and ornamental gourds and I ALWAYS plant them too close together. Some years, disease and pests will wipe out some of them, but since I overplanted, I always have plenty. In a good year, I will have wheelbarrow loads and they make GREAT late summer to late autumn displays around the yard, garden and barn. After that, I give them to the dogs to play with and to the compost pile to feed it. Often, the pumpkins/witer squash/gourds reseed in the dog yard where they climb the fence, and in the compost pile, where they cover it up and hide it pretty well. Oh, if you have a fairly cool space to store them, some pumpkins and winter squash can be stored for MONTHS and then eaten, too. I have kept fall-harvest pumpkins in my tornado shelter until as late as February and March some years, and they were just fine for cooking/eating. I have also kept fall-harvested winter squash in my garage through the spring without a serious loss of quality. I am glad you are having a wonderful June in the garden. Now, if it would only stop raining! Dawn

Wow that looks as good as my harvest this week. I plan to do the same of both sauce and chile powder. Good luck with all those chiles.

I made some teriyaki sauce and simmered it with some 7-pot peppers in it and then I canned it in pint jars with a pepper in each jar. I also like to make a sauce with pineapple, kiwi, mango, coriander, cinnamon, and about 10 super hots (I have used ghost peppers and 7-pots). I also smoked some apples and onions and a basket full of peppers similar to the picture above and added brown sugar, molasses, vinegar, and a few spices. This made a very good and smokey sauce...makes everything taste like it came right off the grill.

I'm very eager to try Archer, but it's already sold out at Krohne and Indiana Berry, and everywhere else I can see it's something like $45 with shipping for just ten bare-root plants. Anyone have a bare root Archer or a plug they can send my way? Thx... (and don't worry, I don't mean send to Israel, I mean New Jersey!)